Life in the old dog

THERE'S always a Charlie Chaplin or a Warren Beatty siring children well into their sixties and seventies, belying the fact that sex is not an option for an astoundingly large number of men in their middle years and beyond. Whatever you choose to call itthe "male menopause", "andropause" or "viropause"or even if you don't feel such terms are appropriate, men and their reproductive systems age, big time.

Erectile dysfunction is one of the most common and upsetting aspects of that process. Then there are lacklustre libidos and symptoms more usually associated with the female menopause, such as osteoporosis, ample midriffs, muscle fading from the arms and legs, fatigue and sleep disturbances. And accompanying all these changes is a slow and steady declines in testosterone and other hormones.

To the uninitiated, the solution may seem obvious: testosterone is supposedly the "male" hormone, so supplement its flagging supply and the health of ...

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